regarding the first half of the letter (tragedies…)
I can tell you: it is partially our fault also, as we go day by day, we are constantly getting reminder wake-up calls (like you mentioned above) from Hashem to start doing teshuva & return to Hashem with achdus. The only problem is that we have a major problem facing the world today-yidden or not-called FACING REALITY, i.e. whenever tragedy strikes we let it pass us & think we could fool Hashem that we don’t get his wake-up call for teshuva. Thus we leave Hashem no choice but to keep striking us with tzaros R”L.
i.e. if we all make a promise to do teshuva ASAP together as a nation this horrific time of constant tzaros can come to a end.

How long can Hashem watch us & not do something to wake us up? i.e. how long can YOU watch your child not listen to his parents before he’s gone too far & needs to be punished? its a potch of love to help the child improve… & thats the bottom line.

Klal yisroel blew it long ago, when we see tzaros happening but we don’t get together as a nation to do teshuva & beg Hashem forgiveness?

regarding the second half of the letter (taking life & everything for granted) I would like to tell you a message that has been told over to hundreds of people face to face.

message:I was once approached by 3 people-at 3 different occasions-with the same question, Each person asked me, how he can learn to stop taking things for granted & instead appreciate them? I then replied to each one with a different answer. The first person that approached me was in a shul, before starting Shachris. I told him, most lessons a person learns in life take weeks & months to learn but this lesson takes only one hour to learn. I then opened up a siddur to birchas Hashachar. & showed him boruch… pokeach Ivrim (blessed be Hashem for giving sight to the blind) & told him why don’t you close your eyes for one hour, just one hour & then open it up to, the world to color & beauty etc… you will not know how to thank Hashem enough. I then gave him 2 other examples. Boruch… Matir Asurim (blessed be Hashem for releasing the prisoner) & told him why don’t you lock yourself in a empty room for 1 hour?-it doesn’t need to be a prison cell it could even have a little furniture, & then come out an hour later to freedom & the world etc…. Boruch… Zokeif Kefufim (blessed be Hashem for straightening the bent) & told him why don’t you stand straight for one hour, no knuckles, elbows or knees, & then loosen yourself free. You will not know how to thank Hashem enough for giving you so much… how would a person eat & put food in his mouth without using his elbows? These are just a few examples. The second person approached me & I replied to him from a different perspective, I Told him if a company of 1000 employees had a policy that all employees must hand in their cell phone from 9:00am-when they arrive-until 5:00pm-when they leave-when he would get it back (at 5:00pm upon leaving) the person would not just look at his missed calls & text messages but would actually start to see the beauty of “the cell phone” & everything that it does…. upon the Third person approaching me-in the midst of a major snowstorm on a friday night-& asked me how will he ever make it home in such deep snow & darkness? I asked him if he knew what I think of when I see snow at night? He replied no, so I told him of the pesukim we say during maariv & in the morning of, Hashem takes light from darkness & dark from lightness. i.e. what else could light up the entire ground in the midst of darkness like snow? With Hashem deciding on each storm how big it will be & each snowflake if it will stick-to the ground-or become water in mid-air etc… BOTTOM LINE: there is always a way to look at every situation in the positive way (from a big water bill in the mail to other sad situations or any other situation a person is in.)

May we all start to show hashem true thanks for everything & start doing teshuva so mashiach can come. very soon.